Rakuten Group, Inc. announced today that it will expand its partnership with Ampere Computing LLC to decrease power usage to achieve more efficient AI computing.
Rakuten will be the first company in Japan to implement Ampere-based platforms on a large scale. Since 2023, Rakuten and Ampere have been conducting trials in Rakuten data centers using Ampere hardware. These trials have led to a 36% reduction in energy consumption per rack and an 11% decrease in space needed per rack for Rakuten Cloud's internal cloud container-based services.
As a global technology company serving 1.8 billion members worldwide, Rakuten is undertaking various initiatives to achieve a sustainable society. In December 2019, Rakuten Group, Inc. joined the international RE100 initiative and, in 2024, announced that it had reached its goal of carbon neutrality in its business operations in 2023.
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Creating a Sustainable Society
Data centers account for a significant portion of Rakuten's total electricity usage. With the rising demand for servers due to increased AI usage, energy-efficient data centers are becoming increasingly important for sustainability efforts.
Rakuten plans to expand its use of Ampere-based platforms in its infrastructure in 2025 to further enhance energy efficiency in its data centers. Hironori Yoshida, Executive Officer and Vice Director of the Cloud Platform Supervisory Department at Rakuten Group, stated, “As the demand for computing power grows with the adoption of AI, cloud operators need to explore platforms and solutions for more sustainable computing. We are pleased with the results of our trials with Ampere and look forward to continuing our collaboration to achieve energy-efficient, sustainable data centers.”
Sean Varley, Chief Evangelist and VP of Business Development at Ampere, said, “Rakuten and Ampere are working together to provide scale-out services for internal workloads to reduce power consumption and improve performance. As AI becomes more widespread, we will strive to offer compelling, cost-effective solutions together.”
In line with its goal of contributing to society through innovation and entrepreneurship, Rakuten will continue to collaborate with customers, partners, communities, employees, and all stakeholders to create a sustainable society.
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